


That's What Friends Are For

by robotsdance



Category: Will & Grace
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Unrequited Love, the year was 1986
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-29 23:37:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12641637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robotsdance/pseuds/robotsdance
Summary: Jack is seventeen and definitely not in love with Will. Not at all. Where would anyone get such a ridiculous idea? Shut up.





	That's What Friends Are For

Jack is seventeen and lying on Will’s bed and doing a magazine quiz titled “ARE YOU FALLING FOR YOUR BEST FRIEND?” for a laugh, because he doesn’t need a quiz to tell him he’s not falling for Will. I mean, it’s the most preposterous idea he’s ever heard. So much so that he’s going to do this stupid magazine quiz to prove how ridiculous an idea it is. So there. 

Like who cares if the first name that popped into his head when he read the title of the quiz was Will’s? The quiz seems to think that matters, but IT DOESN’T. That was a trick question anyway, so it doesn’t count. 

And sure, he spends as much time as humanly possible with Will, and misses him when he’s not around, even if it has only been a few minutes since they said goodbye, and of course they talk on the phone multiple times a day, even if they’ve already spent the whole day together. Why wouldn’t they? And yeah, Jack thinks about Will a lot. A lot a lot. But that doesn’t mean anything.

Just like the collection of Will-based fantasies Jack pretends he doesn’t have. Those don’t mean anything either. He’s sure of it. He doesn’t need a stupid magazine quiz to tell him they don’t mean anything. Because they don’t.

In short, he likes looking at Will, he likes spending time with Will, and he thinks about him all the time. 

It’s not like Jack’s in love with Will Truman. Or anything like that. Nope. Not Jack McFarland. Definitely not in love with Will Truman. No. Not at all. Where would anyone get such a crazy idea? Shut up.  

And if Jack was in love with Will, which he super isn’t by the way, it wouldn’t be his fault. Will was cute to begin with, when he was deep in the closet and a messy collision of insecurities and doubt, and since coming out he’s been getting cuter every day. Jack mostly tries not to think about it, but Will is so funny and cute and smart and hot and gay and-

“How could you let me agree to this?!” Will says in a high-pitched panic and Jack tunes back into the latest baby-gay crisis, “I don’t know what I was thinking saying yes to him. I mean, I’ve never done anything like this before. I’m not ready! Jack! You have to tell me how to tell this guy that I’m interested but I need at least five or six months to prepare.”

“Don’t worry,” Jack says, lowering the magazine and letting it lie flat on his stomach as he makes a show of looking over Will’s outfit from where he’s lying on the bed, “Your outfit projects ‘I’m new at this’ loud and clear.”

Predictably, Will turns back to the mirror and Jack lets himself admire how good Will’s ass looks in the jeans Jack made him buy last week before returning his attention to his magazine and hastily turning the page away from the quiz he was doing because the quiz is stupid and wrong and he's had enough of its lies. He lands on page 32 and tries not to compare Will to the underwear model too favourably while pointedly not thinking about what the quiz would say about this. 

“Should I change? Should I cancel? Jack!” Will says Jack’s name far louder than the rest, which means he’s noticed Jack isn’t paying attention to him.

Jack puts down his magazine again, “What?”

“I need your advice here!”

“You want my advice?” Jack says, a little more harshly than he means to, “Just do as Frankie says: RELAX.”

“How am I supposed to relax?! I’m supposed to go on a date. With a guy. In less than an hour!”

Jack fails to see the problem here, “So?”

“He probably thinks I’ve… dated a guy before,” Will finishes lamely.

“I saw what you were wearing when he asked you out. He knows you haven't,” Jack says as he rolls his eyes, “But everyone has to start somewhere.”

“But I’ve never even kissed a guy before,” Will says quietly.

Jack sighs. Will is still annoyingly attractive even when he’s an insecure wreck.

“C’mere,” Jack says before he kicks his legs in the air to create the momentum he needs to swing himself into a standing position, “Kiss me.”

“What?!” Will yelps.

“You heard me,” Jack fires back as something that feels a lot like hope spreads through his chest, “You’re nervous about your first gay kiss? We’ll get it out of the way to calm your nerves and hopefully lower your voice back to testosterone-based levels before your date.”

Will is still staring at him, mouth agape like some kind of gay goldfish, “Kiss you?”

“Yes Will,” Jack sighs again, “But don’t get your hopes up or anything. I’m doing you a favour here. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“It doesn’t mean anything,” Will repeats.

“Exactly. So get over here and kiss a gay guy for the first time so you can go forth into the world and kiss many many more.”

Will shifts his weight and clenches and unclenches his hands by his sides, but he seems to make up his mind and summon his courage because he leans in with no warning. Jack barely has the wherewithal to close his eyes right before their lips touch. The kiss is both too chaste and too brief for Jack’s liking, but it is Will who’s kissing him, not the other way around, and certainly not them kissing each other, as that would imply emotions are involved. Which they aren't. Still, Jack is fighting every natural instinct he has not to pull Will closer and deepen the kiss. But he doesn’t, because this kiss isn’t about Jack at all. It’s about Will. For Will. All for Will. But Will doesn’t look any calmer when he pulls away.

Jack’s still adjusting to not having Will’s lips on his own and Will’s already yammering on and on, “Was it awful? It was awful. I knew it. I knew it. I don’t know why I let you talk me into this. I’m not ready-”

“Hey!” Jack brings his hand to cover Will mouth with a tad more force than necessary, but the shock of it brings Will’s monologue to an abrupt halt, “Would you get a grip? You’re thinking too much. You’ve kissed girls before, which I mean, gross, but you managed it. Now you’re going to get to kiss people you actually want to kiss. a.k.a hot men.”

Will begins to protest from behind Jack’s palm (which is still held firmly over his mouth) but Jack shuts him down, “No buts! Just close your eyes.”

“Why?” Will says against Jack’s hand, “You already took the twenty out of my wallet.”

“Just do it,” Jack snaps.

Will glowers for a moment but eventually relents and closes his eyes.

“Now take a deep breath and think about a hot guy.”

Will flinches as if he means to keep protesting, but Jack keeps his hand over Will’s mouth until Will has taken several deep breaths.

“You’ve been dreaming of kissing guys for longer than you would ever admit, maybe your whole life, and now you’re finally at the part of your life where it’s actually going to start happening. And it’s going to be scary, especially at first, but it’s also going to be amazing. So relax. Enjoy it. Any guy would be lucky to be kissed by you.”

Will opens his eyes and looks right at Jack as he exhales a soft, “Thanks Jack.”

The ache in Jack’s chest is making his throat painfully tight and he knows (and he hates that he knows, but he knows) that he wants to kiss Will again. Will’s finally stopped overthinking everything and arrived in the headspace to kiss a guy and feel something other than terror and he is even more infuriatingly beautiful for it and they are still standing so close together that all Jack has to do is lean in and they would be kissing again, for real this time. 

But instead Jack pretends to brush fluff off Will’s shoulders and straightens his shirt before he takes a step back and sends Will out into the world to kiss some other guy. 

Jack doesn’t want to know what the magazine quiz has to say about any of this.


End file.
